novelraw Chapter 294: The System Made Me Do It
Chapter 294: The System Made Me Do It
[System: You should ask Altair for some of his tears.]
Ren froze, her head tilting to the side.
’His tears?’ Ren asked, her brows knitting together in profound confusion. ’Why? I’m not wounded anywhere. Would it make me recover my stamina faster?’ She could undeniably feel that Altair had improved drastically since the very first time they had sex back in the forest. His stamina and technique were terrifyingly potent, but she wasn’t actually injured.
[System: It isn’t for you, Host. If you combine a single drop of Altair’s healing tears with your herbal sunburn relief mixture, it will instantly and completely eradicate the Snake King’s severe sunburn. He will deeply appreciate the gesture, and his terrible mood will be instantly cured!]
Ren’s green eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces rapidly clicked together in her brain.
’So that is why you conveniently gifted me a small glass vial earlier when you somehow ’glitched’ my dress away!’ Ren accused. ’What are you really up to? Why are you suddenly being so helpful without demanding a ridiculous quest in return?’
[System: I am profoundly offended by your lack of faith! I am always helpful, Host!]
Ren rolled her eyes. She knew better than to trust the System’s sudden benevolence. It didn’t just help her out of the goodness of its digital heart. Absolutely anything and everything the System ever did was carefully calculated for a specific reason—a reason that the system would find highly entertaining, and that Ren would inevitably find to be a waking nightmare.
Still, Ren couldn’t deny that it was a brilliant idea. She just knew Syris was sitting in his bath right now, brooding and sulking in a terrible mood.
Ren turned around to face the bed.
FLASH!
A blinding, explosive burst of radiant golden light suddenly erupted in the dark nest.
"Argh! Mother of—!" Ren shrieked, throwing her hands up to shield her face. She aggressively rubbed her watering eyes as massive white spots danced wildly across her vision. "Altair! I am going to be blind by the time I hit forty!"
As the spots slowly faded, she saw that Altair had returned to his massive, majestic beast form. The giant Golden Eagle was seated calmly by the edge of the fur bed, looking at her with his intense, unblinking silver eyes.
Ren sighed, opening her inventory and retrieving the small Vial. It materialized in her palm with a soft golden glow.
She stood there shivering in the cold, staring at the giant bird and holding the tiny bottle. She wondered exactly how she was supposed to ask him for some of his tears.
To Ren, it was such a strange, invasive thing to request. It was like casually asking an acquaintance for a lock of their hair, or a vial of their blood. It held the exact same amount of creepiness.
She ran through several terrible options in her head.
’Hey, so, are you feeling sad at all? No? Could you maybe think about a dying puppy and squeeze one out for me?’ No, that was too weird.
’Excuse me, my majestic husband, could you please leak some of your magical eye-juice into this tiny jar?’ Absolutely not.
Unable to formulate a normal sentence, Ren nervously rubbed the back of her neck and stuttered out the truth.
"Um... Altair?" Ren started, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "The, uh... the System in my head just told me that if I mix your tears into a paste, I can use it to instantly heal Syris’s sunburn."
Ren honestly loved that she could just blatantly blame the System for some of her weirder, more unhinged actions. It was so nice not having to keep massive, universe-breaking secrets from Altair. Being able to openly and honestly say ’the magical voice in my head made me do it’ had been a massive relief for her mental health.
Altair didn’t say anything. The giant eagle just stared at her.
Ren bit her lip, wondering if he was going to refuse. She couldn’t force him to cry, after all, and she absolutely wouldn’t try. Maybe extracting a tear had some kind of negative biological effect on him? If he said no, she would just have to make the regular sunburn remedy, which would take at least three full days of continuous application given how severely fried Syris’s delicate skin was.
Finally, after a long, agonizing moment of silence, Altair slowly dipped his head in a nod.
Ren let out a breath. She wondered if the bird actually enjoyed keeping her in total suspense.
Reaching up, she carefully placed the lip of the tiny glass vial right beneath the corner of his piercing silver eye. It took a moment of intense concentration, but eventually, Altair blinked, and a single, glowing, pearlescent tear rolled down his feathers, dropping squarely into the vial with a soft plink.
"Thank you so much," Ren smiled warmly, quickly corking the vial. She really hoped that one single drop would be enough to cure a full-body sunburn, but considering one drop had miraculously healed her ankle back in the forest, it should be more than enough.
With her magical ingredient secured, Ren finally turned and made her way through the dark archway that led to Syris’s private bathing area.
The air instantly grew thick, warm, and humid.
Syris was currently submerged waist-deep in a massive, beautifully carved obsidian pool filled with slightly steaming, fragrant water. His broad, peeling back was turned completely to her. His silky, incredibly long black hair was soaking wet, clinging to his pale skin and trailing into the dark water.
Hearing her soft footsteps on the stone, the Snake King slowly turned around.
Ren’s breath hitched in her throat.
Syris’s amethyst eyes instantly locked onto her small frame. His dark, predatory gaze slowly traveled up and down her shivering, completely naked body.
Ren nervously swallowed the lump in her throat, taking a tiny, timid step forward into the humid room.
"Are you... are you angry?" Ren asked, her voice incredibly small.
Syris didn’t say a single word.
The Snake King rose gracefully from the steaming pool. Water cascaded down his pale, breathtakingly muscular body, dripping from his sharp collarbones and trailing over the pronounced ridges of his tight abdomen. He stepped cleanly out of the water, his bare feet padding silently against the wet stone, and walked toward her.
He didn’t stop until he was standing directly in front of her, towering over her trembling frame.